Anthony Wayne: Soldier of the Early Republic

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Indiana University Press, Oct 22, 1985 - Biography & Autobiography - 368 pages

Paul David Nelson has written an exciting biography of an exciting figure—the military hero of the American Revolution and the Indian Wars in the Northwest Territory—"Mad" Anthony Wayne. Some of his contemporaries called him rash and impetuous, a braggart and a dandy. "More active and enterprising than judicious and cautious" was George Washington's verdict. True, Wayne had a flair for the dramatic and consciously acted the role of swashbuckler, but he proved himself one of the best and most successful military leaders of the early American republic.

Despite his reputation for madness, Wayne, as Nelson points out, was a prudent and careful officer whose military record belies the myth. When he ran out of wars to fight, Wayne turned to the political arena. Nelson shows that the qualities which made Wayne a great military leader served him well in politics. He proved himself articulate and shrewd in statecraft in a critical time for the young republic, the years just after ratification of the Constitution.

 

Contents

Genesis of a Soldier 17451776 I
1
Canada and Ticonderoga 17761777
21
Trials in Pennsylvania 1777
42
Valley Forge and Monmouth 17771779
65
Stony Point and Stormy Politics 17791780
94
Mutiny 17801781
115
The Virginia Adventure 1781
132
Southern Triumph 17811783
163
Redemption 17871792
208
Commander of the Legion 17921793
228
Fallen Timbers 17931794
249
Peace in the Northwest 17941795
269
Good Soldiers Reward 17951796
284
NOTES
305
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
341
INDEX
359

Politics and Debt 17831786
186

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